Siqxhe knelt before the throne of glass and steel brightness atop the fortress, a single hand steadying himself against the smooth orange and black of the rug beneath, the wavering reflection of the sky all around and above. “Lord Ididirchi… my efforts go unheeded. The eidolon does not wake.”
“Soshyetay says you heard it speak. What did it say?” Ididirchi leaned closer, but not with the malicious intent he’d leveraged against them so many times before- it was more of an innocent curiosity now, a genuine interest in the eidolon. A dark-
Siqxhe blinked, nodded more to clear his head than in response to Ididrchi’s inquest. “The eidolon spoke of arctic and eternities falling, and something called polarity light. If it were human, I would say it’s irreparably mad-” he breathed in sharply at the sudden intensity of Ididirchi’s glare, continuing on quickly- “but I don’t know if the knowledge of humanity counts when it comes to this creature. It could know something we do not.”
Ididirchi clasped his hands, sitting back in his throne of scrap, the seat of glory. “Interesting. Did it respond to any questions you asked?”
“No, it-” A Ilyaochi man ran through the doors, stopped only by the suddenly extended blades of Ididrchi’s guards, and Siqxhe immediately recalled the murder that’d happened only a day before. God- please not again-
“Speak! Why do you interrupt.” Ididirchi didn’t seem upset- in fact, he almost sounded worried. “What’s happening?”
“The scrap, my lord.” The Ilyaochi prostrated himself deeply on the floor, prompting the guards to retract their weapons and allow him to stand. “I’ve found the scrap.”
………
Ididirchi and Siqxhe stood beside each other once again, this time in a dimly lit warehouse sequestered deep within the walls of Laytaihishu. Laeo stood off to the side, conversing quietly with Railoxhe, though for what reason Siqxhe couldn’t quite tell.
In front of them was a mount of scrap, twice as tall as a man and many times as wide, an immense amount of metal by any standards but all the more impressive due to what it was. The stuff positively gleamed- despite the dirt and dust that layered itself across the mound, the metal was still beautiful, the sort of beauty that defied simple description.
Part of it, though, sat separate from the rest- a simple, neat pile dropped near the door, covered in dust and grime and the faintest remnants of blood.
Ididirchi knelt beside the metal, picking up a few pieces and letting them fall from his hands with a peculiar metallic sound. “What is this? Who orchestrated this?” There was a slight inflection to his voice, an astonishment as he looked suspiciously around the room until his eyes rested on the Ilyoachi man who’d brought them the news. “Is this your doing?”
“No- my lord- I-” The Ilyaochi man stepped back warily as the tension in the room steadily climbed. Four of Ididirchi’s guards stepped forward to block the entrance- two to prevent the man from leaving, and two to hold back the servants who looked warily into dim rooms of sparkling metal. “I swear on the voice of the Brother. I have nothing, nothing to do with this.” He backed up a step more, undermining the work he’d just done. For a moment Siqxhe was sure it’d lead to a confrontation, but then Railoxhe looked up and tapped Ididirchi on the shoulder, whispering something quietly into his ear.
A tense moment, silence held between the Ilyaochi and their lord. People were gathering outside the room, enough that there would be word in the village. Hard eyes, wide, Ilyoachi eyes watching from beyond the portal, focusing on Ididirchi, his guards, even Railoxhe, Siqxhe, and Laeo. They were distrustful of the Sakaxhy, and by extension, the Nola. They brought only terror and the darkness of skies-
Ididirchi nodded softly, stepping back and waving for his guards to back away from the man. “Tell me what you saw when you discovered the metal.”
“I was delivering the scrap- as is my job- and I was all looking out for unnatural things because I knew the last porter and he died. So when I saw the scrap here, dressed in blood and stacked in the wrong place, I immediately came to tell you.”
Ididirchi nodded, brows furrowed, angrily pacing back and forth across the floor. Silently glaring at the man- “I see… this is devious. This is just another extension of their plot- the Ilyaochi of the mountains are out to stop me.” His pacing grew more frenetic, harsher, his words cast in an all too unforgiving tone. “If the scrap is returned, but the murderer remains, then who is to blame?” He twirled, eyes of cold fire glaring at the Ilyaochi man. “I will see whoever is doing this put to the fiercest of judgment. I will see the conspirators punished. You are dismissed.”
As the subject of Ididirchi’s vehemence ran off with an all too obvious air of relief, Ididirchi slumped, for the first time seeming almost deflated. Railoxhe stepped up beside him, taking his hand and placing his own on top of it in a peculiar, almost paternal manner- an Ilyaochi manner. “All is well. The perpetrator has struck but in the end nothing is lost.” A miniscule hitch in his voice was the only thing that betrayed him. “We need to return to more important things… there are plans to be made, my lord.” Railoxhe gave a slight smile, slipping off to calm the Ilyaochi servants beside the door, and Siqxhe couldn’t help but feel admiration for the man. He was incredible…
Ididirchi just stood there, looking at the scrap.
Looking into the deep, glossy, subtle iridescence of the metal as it reflected lantern’s light, thinking about something that Siqxhe could not fathom- “Doctor.” It took him a second to realize that he was talking to him, and Siqxhe straightened himself, bowing slightly- “attend me in my chambers. I wish to speak with you…”
The last thing Siqxhe saw of him before Ididirchi left the room was a stone cold face looking beyond the walls of stone, beyond the light and into the darkness of unknown reaches…
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………
Ididirchi’s rooms were… interesting. All sorts of effects hung from the walls or sat on tables, a gentle clutter that didn’t look bad, but wasn’t the sort of austere Sakaxhy furnishings he’d come to expect from the courts of Sakaxhy nobles. Various scientific instruments lie intermixed with charts and maps and all sorts of things that didn’t make sense to him, and a portrait of a young Sakaxhy girl he’d never seen…
The door creaked open behind him, and Ididirchi walked into the room. He looked… smaller. Less imperious, more tired, more worn more human- a man stood before as he threw his orate cape onto a corner of the door and slouched down into a chair. “Doctor.” A slight incline of the head, but an acknowledgement nonetheless. “Please, sit. I want you to know… why.”
“What do you mean?” But he sat. There was no purpose in disobeying the lord absolute, the ruler in truth of all lands beneath the shadow of god. There was a faint rustling of papers as Ididirchi brought out a detailed map, clearly made by hand. The sort of thing that must have cost a fortune. Someone had scribbled over the whole thing, an occlusion of a million little lines that covered a decent portion of the map and continued off the edge… Siqxhe stared closer, looking at all the names, all the peaks and the valleys and rivers, large and small. The totality of the area that had been occluded, and it was massive. “What does it mean?”
“It means that this is my land.” Ididirchi grinned, an immense pride in his voice. “My ancestor, Sagotsyao convinced the emperor in Ilaial to grant him sole control over the entire shadow of god. The other lords struck a deal with him- there would be no assistance unpaid, no help given not earned. Sagotsyao earned. He forged this fortress.” Ididirchi waved toward the room’s window, a massive pane of glass that looked out over the forest and the mountains and the orange-bright darkness that hung above the earth. In its large scope, Siqxhe could truly see the plane of God, how uneven it was, how unique… at the very least, it wasn’t flat.
After a long moment Ididirchi brought out a second map. This one was clearly the continent of Xhyolok with all its jagged islands around the edges, its towering mountains in the center, and its land, sweeping tracts of uninterrupted land that extended for miles upon miles… Over the center of the map, a large portion of the continent was shaded black. Siqxhe stared at it, astonished- it was an immense territory. “You-”
“I own all of that. Everything, yet I am denied. The emperor himself only has direct control over a fraction of the land. I own a sixth-” Ididirchi paused, drawing a deep breath. “I have this village and only this village. My predecessors played a game of appeasement, courting the nobles of beyond in order to secure that valuable lifeline of food and lantern oil in exchange for the scrap. They understood, even great Sagotsyao, that they were at the mercy of those lords. Not me. I have subjugated the Ilyaochi, and they will be the force of my will in the world of man.”
Siqxhe didn’t respond, just staring down at the maps, the blackness, an occlusion and remembering darkness- if what he was saying was truth, then Ididirchi was one the highest nobles of the Sakaxhy Empire. Suddenly, a lot of things made more sense… “How did you subjugate the Ilyaochi they…” He stopped himself from speaking further. It was probably a bad idea to get himself killed…
“Hate me?” Ididirchi chuckled at Siqxhe’s stricken expression, thought beneath that laugh Siqxhe could have sworn he felt something cold… “They might, but they don’t matter. A single Ilyaochi village is inconsequential- I have assurances from the true lords of the Ilyaochi that they will march to my aid…” he said no more, merely staring out the windows and toward the mountains that reached so high as to fall toward God itself, cast in that eerie orange glow and the silence of distances that stretched beyond thought.
A wall of rock, from hills to mountains to these true behemoths, it was one of the grandest sights he’d ever seen. Snowcapped, gleaming orange peaks reflecting the light of eyes- it was different. In Nolabo, the highest mountains had the same snow capped peaks, but even they paled in comparison to the impact of seeing everything just… spread out forever.
“I need it.” It was barely more than a whisper, but of all the words Siqxhe had ever heard Ididirchi speak, these carried the most power. “I need the eidolon and its power. I need the Ilyaochi and the strength they’re going to give me.” A pause, and of all the silences this was the most- “I need the empire.”
………
Siqxhe walked beside Laeo through Sagotsyao’s garden, watching the leaves whisper across one another in the wake of their passing. Watching the shadows, dappled light through greenery that he missed so much… “He’s imposing. Maybe insane… I can’t really tell the difference between the two.”
“And you’re the doctor…” Laeo laughed beside him, a warm, friendly sort of laugh that helped put Siqxhe at ease. In that moment he was just walking through the forest with a friend, feeling the gentle breath of nature on his skin and remembering good times in his childhood town. “You say he’s ambitious? What about?”
“He wants the empire.” In a moment the atmosphere was gone, and they were once again deep within the fortress Laytaihishu, deep within the will of Ididirchi and his game for the throne of Empire. “He’s both in a decent position to make a play, and without any base at all. I think this is the largest city in his territory.” Siqxhe brushed his finger along a leaf, remembering the gnarled, desiccated forests that stretched on forever…
Laeo picked the leaf, rubbing it between his fingers until it crumpled into a little ball. “The largest Sakaxhy controlled city in the area, maybe. The Ilyaochi exist throughout the highlands in force…” Laeo frowned, contemplative. “Still, I don’t understand his motive. He can’t have enough power to force them into submission.”
“I think he’s made a deal-”
“Of course!” Laeo smiled sheepishly, looking around the garden to make sure he hadn’t disrupted anything before continuing the conversation in a fierce whisper. “He’s made a deal with the Ilyaochi. The great Sakaxhy failure will become his most important asset…”
Leaves grew over branches, rows of trees that extended from down the length of a long hall. Memories of light, illuminated… Laeo’s was an image of contemplation, frowning almost sullenly as he pondered. They complemented each other well, thought Siqxhe- himself with his skill for medicine, and Laeo with his unique talent for problem solving… After a time that seemed almost to stretch on forever, Laeo sighed, standing just a bit straighter, eyes just a bit darker. “Ididirchi is a high lord of the empire, and we’ve walked into something far beyond us…”